Posted on 01/01/2016 11:15:03 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
No doubt you, too, spent the holidays relishing the humiliation of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the overrated and obnoxious Democratic Party hack who, finally, is teetering on the brink of political oblivion. How the former ballet dancer and Sarah Lawrence alumnus parlayed ambition and drive and the ability to scream like a lunatic into high office and a fortune of more than $10 million is one of the remarkable political stories of our time. "Emanuel has succeeded in almost every professional endeavor he has undertaken," Ryan Lizza wrote approvingly in 2009. Spoke too soon.
How bad is Rahm Emanuel? He makes Bill De Blasio look good. He was forced into an unprecedented runoff before winning a second term last spring. In early December his approval rating was 18 percent. Protestors, including Democratic powerbroker Al Sharpton, want him to resign for the city's withholding of video in the case of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager killed by a police officer in 2014. Gang violence is pervasive. Municipal finances are a wreck.
Normally one might be inclined to sympathize, however faintly, with a city manager out of his depth and at the mercy of events. Not in this case. And I suspect my reluctance to commiserate is widely shared among the very large class of people in Chicago, in D.C., in Los Angeles, and in New York who have been at the receiving end of one of Emanuel's tantrums, or had to put up with his B.S., or pretended to excuse his loutishness and misplaced self-confidence as a funny, even endearing, quirk of personality. Emanuel has been wise to limit his screaming of obscenities to "private" interactions with colleagues or employees, so that this revolting side of him is discussed typically in profiles, giving the reader the feeling of being an "insider" who understands what it means to say, "That's just Rahm being Rahm."
Well, the shtick is up. What once seemed like a knack for identifying and occupying the political center has revealed itself as a self-serving tone-deafness that is both clueless and abrasive. Earlier this month, when Mike Allen of Politico offhandedly mentioned before a live audience that the Emanuel family would be traveling to Cuba for Christmas vacation, the mayor lashed out, sputtering, "Thanks for telling everybody what I'm going to do with my family. You just had a private conversation with me and now you've decided to make that public. I really don't appreciate that," before demanding Allen call Mrs. Emanuel and apologize.
Leave aside the obvious question, which is how on Earth could Emanuel have thought that the location of his family vacation would remain private in the middle of controversy. Consider a second question, which is what did Emanuel fear in having the information disclosed? Is he ashamed of traveling to Cuba? And did it ever occur to Emanuel, Emanuel's wife, the group of families the Emanuels regularly vacation with, or any member of Emanuel's political and communications retinue that traveling to a Communist dictatorship while being accused of insufficient attention to civil rights was, you know, maybe a bad idea? Or were they too afraid of "Rahm being Rahm" to object?
I actually doubt that any of the well-meaning liberals surrounding Mayor Emanuel had second thoughts about a holiday jaunt to the despotism of Fidel and Raul Castro. What could be wrong, in their view, with a visit to a forbidden land newly opened to tourism by President Obama's Cuban detente? City Hall told Lynn Sweet that the official purpose of the Emanuel vacation was "educational activities" and that the stay would be "jam packed" with "cultural and educational visits." Nothing more "educational," I suppose, than an examination of the geology and coastal ecosystem of Playa Larga.
Take a minute to picture Mayor Emanuel there, in guayabera shirt, board shorts, and Ray-Bans, cell phone balanced precariously on the arm of his beach chair, as he sips absentmindedly from a caipirinha, takes the occasional puff of a Partagas cigar Serie D, watches his children and their friends play in the surf, and listens to his golf buddies discuss the cover essays on growing economic inequality in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs. Imagine them later in the day, during a "cultural visit" to the rooftop terrace of La Guarida that lasts hours and includes slices of lemon pie and several bottles of wine, as the party gazes at the Havana skyline and wistfully contemplates how this "authentic" city will be transformed, for the worse, when the Yanqui corporations arrive in force. An old waiter paid by the Cuban government entertains them with stories of the revolution. Emanuel nods his head solemnly.
A liberal who jumps at the chance to vacation in a slave state-and thinks it's somehow adventurous or even brave to take your children to a place romanticized by left-wing utopians since it went Communist in 1959-is not only morally blinkered. He's banal. He's the sort of liberal for whom there is no difference between self-interest and the public interest-a trait Emanuel picked up from the Clintons. He rationalizes leaving the White House for an investment bank, using political connections to amass "$18 million in just two-and-a-half years," making six-figure fees from a board seat at Freddie Mac, and savaging anyone who dares question the priorities and self-righteousness and sanctimony of multimillionaires who "just want to make the world a better place." He joins the chorus in favor of criminal justice reform despite slow walking and obstructing an investigation into a police shooting for personal gain.
The situation in Chicago is so dire Emanuel cut short his vacation-the poor dear. The other day a small group of protesters gathered outside his home. He held a press conference where he announced changes in police tactics. But he is really just a worm on a hook at this point. He's lost his mandate, his reputation, his press. And as he viciously chews out whichever naif underling has wandered, doe-like, into his midst, you just know he pities himself and lamenting: I wouldn't have this sort of problem in Cuba.
isn’t his brother the one who wants all Americans (except himself i’m sure) dead at 75? kook.
It’s a freak show family, for sure - right up the Democratic Party ally.
Donald Trump, please pick up your $50,000 Rahm Emanuel campaign donation. It’s in a brown paper sack at the back door. Thanks.
[No doubt you, too, spent the holidays relishing the humiliation of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the overrated and obnoxious Democratic Party hack who, finally, is teetering on the brink of political oblivion.]
Yes, yes I am. I admit it. And yes, I DO have popcorn handy.
If those crowds ever got their hands on him....it might not be pretty at all.
Bam! Think about it, no more perfect example of the left’s real lives, thoughts and motives. Commie going to newly opened Commie land, pricelessly obvious for all to see.
Did he join the Cuban Ballet for a few “pas de teuxs” or the Texas Two-Step Rhumba”.
Lol.. Truth.
We might as well have elected guest mayors like castro’s brother to run Chicago or NY
Not that I’m a Rahm Emanuel fan by any means, but he has (at least) tried to institute fiscal reforms in Chicago. Overall, Chicago is still an important & functioning city, but it’s problems are just as bad, and almost as intractable, as Detroit’s. Whoever has that job is going to have a colossal mess on their hands. The other Democrat who ran against him would have been a whole lot worse.
I don't agree with that.
That’s the guy. Ezekiel. He’s on my airport list.
L
We are still waiting for for photos of the Emmanuel family vacation to Kenya right after Obama’s first election ... Surely Rahmbo got to meet obama’s extended family ..
acting on behalf of an ageing michael corleone, obama dispatched Rahm to cuba to provide gravitas to the negotiations to allow the democrat party criminal enterprise to resurrect their former operations in cuba
the new capital of gambling and all sorts of nefarious activity will be Guantanamo City. Once it is turned over to Cuba, Raoul will allow the DNC criminals to develop it into a world class tropical paradise where everything is legal
it will be up to the Donald to invade and destroy this nefarious plot
“Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the overrated and obnoxious Democratic Party hack who, finally, is teetering on the brink of political oblivion. How the former ballet dancer and Sarah Lawrence alumnus parlayed ambition and drive and the ability to scream like a lunatic into high office and a fortune of more than $10 million is one of the remarkable political stories of our time.”
Excellent writing.
Emanual is not the problem.
It’s the Che-Guevara-T-shirt-wearing, Progressive scu*bags who put him into office along with the elitist punks who think of their I.Q.’s as being between 180 and 200.
There’s no end to their manipulation and arrogance.
IMHO
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Obama and Rahm and the rest of the criminals were the kingpins of Chicago criminal politics ensconced in our WH. The stench from the Chicago sleaze permeated the putrid Capitol Hill air... starting w/ Obama's COS Rahm Emanuel.
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THIS MADE ME LAUGH OUT LOUD shortly after quitting his powerful WH job as Obama's COS, Rahm held a presser declaring he "just remembered" he really, Really wanted to be Mayor of Chicago. Then Rahm announced he had magically "raised" $30 million for his campaign in "just a matter of weeks." (waiting for hysterical laughter to die down).
Ya gotta wonder how much the cunning onetime Wall Streeter wired offshore when Obama put Rahm--in a dual role---as his COS....... AND in charge of the entire US Treasury.
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BACKSTORY---THE KINGPINS OF CHICAGO CRIMINAL POLITICS IN OUR WH wasted no time.....they had a stranglehold on the Census, AND the US Treasury, from day one.
The minute Obama/Valerie/Rahm/Axelrod/Geithner, and that Practiced bunch of Chicago criminals, landed in the WH they did two things that were apparently crucial to their evil plans
(a) they took control of the US Census;
(b) Obama placed his COS Rahm Emanuel in control of the US Dept of the Treasury (cabinet-level agency oversees IRS).
THE SMOKING GUN---WSJ REPORT--On Jan 20, 2009 Timothy Geithner was appointed Obama's Secy of the Treasury. But within three weeks, the Obama White House tightened its grip on Treasury. Obama put his COS, Rahm Emanuel, in charge of Treasury---Rahm Emanuel's dual role was an unusual move.
When he got to Treasury, WH COS Rahm Emanuel was so involved in the inner workings of the Treasury that the phrase "Rahm wants it" had become an unofficial mantra among subservient govt staffers, prostrate in obeisance, scurrying to accede to Rahm's wishes, according to Treasury government officials. Reported by WSJ / 05/31/09
SOURCE http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113406528875137.html
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